


A stitch in time

by Neondragon54



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, crafting au, knitting AU, there are puns me dude, wholesome au, woop woop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-21
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2020-10-25 08:07:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20720927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neondragon54/pseuds/Neondragon54
Summary: Caleb does some knitting kids and ja, it good and sweet.





	A stitch in time

Caleb had a power, Well he had magic but he also had a different power as well. Not that anyone knew about it.  
  
He was very careful to hide the books on knitting behind other ones and had learnt to recognise patterns a mile off but there was one he couldn’t place.  
  
Now that they had gotten a permanent residence? And Caleb had gotten his own room he had had the chance to put his stuff down. He had found his knitting needles and a small ball of yarn and started knitting who knows what. He didn’t have enough for any large projects but eventually a small square was formed and he carefully casted off before placing it down,  
Frumpkin immediately going to sit on it.  
  
He sighed, surveying the room, it could be his eventually, a few books stacked on the desk, a large cuddly afghan on the bed, maybe taster squares of different stitches. Different colours naturally, or maybe the same to truly show the difference between the stiches, he was definitely going to need more yarn though.  
  
That’s why the next day he got himself lost in Xhorhas before asking someone to help him. Down the road and to the left, ‘A stitch in time’ because of course it was. And he walked down the cobbled street to he met the shop.  
  
First of all the door was far too skinny, the floors far to creaky and the steps to the second floor far to steep but it reminded him of home. “Can I help you?” A chubby blue skinned teifling smiled from the desk, “We have books upstairs for patterns, crochet and lacemaking yarn in those shelves and double knit and chunky in those over there,” she was crocheting, the movements to twisted to constitute any other type of craft.  
  
“Do you have any circular needles?” He asked.  
  
“Fuck I don’t know mate, the supplies are upstairs.” Caleb got a strong sense that the lady wasn’t used to people not knowing where stuff was here, so he climbed up the stairs to see another teifling, exactly the same but her skin was a dull pink, spinning yarn.  
  
“Can I help you sir?” She asked looking up for a brief second.  
  
“Um, yah, I need circular knitting needles and some yarn.”  
  
“Cool So circular needles are over there, and yarns downstairs, I would say to yell for help but ya’know.” She gestured to the small drop spinner and smiled.  
  
  
Caleb left with two skiens of dark navy and a pair of circular needles, pretty sure that Blue girl had given him a discount but smiling as he made his way back to the house. One adventure later and a small Navy beanie with ear holes was carefully stealthed into Notts backpack.  
  
And he was back at a stitch in time being a two sets of double pointed because for some reason they sold them in packs of three instead of four. Didn’t matter though, he was no longer cash strapped so he started looking at the more expensive yarn, softer yarn. So he picked up a soft pink, and place that on the counter as well. “We have a rewards system if you want it, for every ten gold, you get a stamp and then after ten stamps you get ten gold on us.”  
  
“Sure?” Caleb muttered.  
  
“What’s your name?”  
  
“Ehh, Caleb Widogast,”  
  
“Cool well I’m Sophia Marlow. That’ll be fifteen gold please,” she smiled and they swapped goods and moved on with what they had to do.  
  
Eight weeks and they where back. The soft pink had been turned into a scarf for Jester. The rest of the blue wool being turned into mittens for Nott, and the sliver of a matching scarf. So he was back at a Stitch In Time to get more navy, and maybe a pattern for a jumper.  
  
“Hello how can I help you?” Sophia called from her spot by the desk.  
  
“Knitting patterns,” Caleb answered.  
  
“Bit of a switch around since you where last here, jumpers are downstairs, so are some of the more popular supplies and yeh.”  
  
So he browsed some patterns for a traditional Cable Knit. “Do you have any patterns from Port Damali?” He asked Sophia, how made am impressed face and got up to stand by him.  
  
“You’re looking for a three braid cable, with an two braid on the arms.” She flicked through a couple of packets and pulled one out. “This should do it, it should be adaptable, I’m not actually not sure about the accuracy but that’s a lot more of Olivia’s speed.”  
  
“I guess,” Caleb muttered, “Let me just pick up the wool and I’ll be off.”  
  
“Sure but you get a discount if you get the right amount of yarn.” So Caleb picked out a dark emerald that was almost black and placed it on the counter.  
  
“Pick a new colour mate, you will not be able to Cable in that colour, two dark and you look like you knit tight.” Yeh that was probably true but it would look nice and Caleb had already fallen in love with the colour so he just smiled and nodded. Paying for it and getting his card stamped three times because Sophia said that he would probably be coming back to get more yarn.  
  
Turns out that yes it was a bitch to work with, the yarn was slippery so the double pointed knitting needle he had used instead of the actual cabling needle kept falling out and he couldn’t see the stitches and it wasn’t fun. Throughout the process he was constantly picking and losing stitches, eventually going back to A Stitch in Time to see what to do.  
  
Olivia has gifted him a crochet hook and a few handfuls of stitch markers. Sophia giving him an ‘I told you so’ look throughout the entire transaction.  
  
“Is this for a partner?” Olivia asked, carefully picking through the mess of loops and taught string. She was careful, a lot more careful then he expected baring in mind her twin sister, Sophia was brass and loud whilst Olivia was a lot more gentle. “So What you are going to do is start from here, she outlined a line half way through the pattern, “and it shouldn’t take that long, there’s a Stitch and Bitch every Thursday if you want to come, half twelve.”  
  
“I’ll erm think about it,” He thanked both of them and made his way back to the house. Amazingly managing to avoid suspicion from the rest of the mighty nein.  
  
Two months later and the jumper was done. And it was amazing, well not amazing, but his mum had always taught him that you need a few dropped stitches to trap the dark thoughts that may be carried through the stitches. He pulled Fjord aside one evening and placed it in his hands before rushing off and locking his door.  
  
It took a couple of minutes and Fjord was knocking on his door. After a few moments he had given up and Caleb had gone back to collect all his scraps and winding them into one ball.  
  
  
Next morning and Caleb was up early, sipping a cup of tea and watching Caduceus make breakfast, when Fjord came down wearing the jumper. He nodded to Caduceus and sat down next to Caleb. “Thanks for the sweater.” He smiled, “Do you know about the cable?”  
  
“That it’s used to recognise the port the wearer came from, that’s just a myth.” Caleb filled in. It wasn’t that crafters weren’t superstitious, but you picked up rumours and beliefs.  
  
“Yeh well, all myths are based in truth.” Fjord muttered, “thank you for the jumper, it’s perfect.” And Caleb smiled into his tea and sipped it happily.  
  
Due to the fact that he had openly gifted the jumper to Fjord Beau had loudly started comparing about how cold her feet were during camping. Not that it mattered, Caleb was using a small batch of scraps to make a pair of socks. Sure it wasn’t sock wool and a lot closer to a slipper sock but when he gifted them to Beau they managed to fit her perfectly.  
  
Therefore, the only person left for a gift was Caduceus but he already had a knitted item. Not by him but by his mum, or someone close and it confused the hell out of him. It was two different colours, but it was too thin to be double knitted and it was reversible so it couldn’t have been the other type he had been looking at so he was confused.  
  
He had taken Cad aside and asked about it and Cad had given it to him, and Caleb had immediately ran to the knitting shop to see what it was. Completely forgetting that it was a Stitch and Bitch day. So when he walked into the shop he was greeted by a bunch of elderly elves, and as many other races of people, not that it seemed to matter as they ignored him in favour of talking about whatever. He walked over to Sophia’s whose small mound of hexagons and grown into a small hill and showed her the hat.  
  
“Marda, this is Brioche knitting right?” She called into the circle of knitters, holding the hat out.  
  
“Let’s have a look at it,” an elderly Drow stood up and moved to the till point, “My legs aren’t what they used to be you know.” She muttered, as she reached Caleb and grabbed the hat.  
  
She flicked it in and out a few hundred times and nodded, “Yes that’s a classic Brioche Stitch if I ever saw it.”  
  
“Should be in that almanac of stitches, hang on I’ll go and get it.”  
  
“Sophia,” another voice called out, “That better not be the one by that bishop.”  
  
“Bishop Rutts, yeh it is,” Sophia confirmed going to reach down a large leather bound book and knocking a few things over.  
  
“Well you know my thing about Bishop Rutts or whoever. As soon as they let women into the ministry then he only bloody left, after mastering a woman’s craft, not to say its a woman’s craft anymore but at that time he was writing stuff down like it was the fucking Ten Commandments.” The voice grumbled as Sophia flicked to the correct page.  
  
“Here it is.” She pointed at a terribly small chapter and that was it.  
  
“It’s more commonly found in places like the Savilerwood,” Olivia spoke up from her quiet corner, “Essentially you alternate the yarns used. Come over here I can show you.” So Caleb stepped into the circle as Olivia pulled out a set of circular needles and two different colours and patiently started to show him.  
  
Two hours later and Caleb had heard everything about Linette’s husband, the fact that arthritis had completely ruined her getting stuff off shelves and how that they had so many lace curtains due to her horrible daughter in law and if Caleb would like any, she had about five stuffed in her loft but he would have to get them down because of the aforementioned arthritis.  
  
  
Didn’t matter though because he had left with a soft green and pink scarf started and he was fairly sure he had had enough practice with the different style that he knew what he was doing. And he did, honestly it took a lot less time than what he was expecting, growing at a satisfying rate. He gifted it to Caduceus who rumbled a thank you and immediately put it on even though it was far to warm to warrant it.  
  
  
Caleb soon went back to knitting sample squares, just leaving them in a largish stack on his desk, carefully sketching out new patterns in a grid notebook that he had found, and knitting them.  
  
They where in a cave when Jester came up to him with a wrapped gift and a huge smile on her face. The rest of the nein looking half embarrassed half proud as Caleb carefully undid the bow and wrapping paper to see the gift.  
  
He pulled out a brightly coloured hat with a huge multicoloured pompom stuck on the top, Jester giggling profusely as he carefully put it to his side, then there was a bumpy scarf that seemed to thin and thicken throughout and Beau looking incredibly shocked that Jester had included the red strip of fabric.  
  
Nott had made two mittens, with button down flaps and a lot of patience as they where well crafted and he could feel the admiration and love emanating off them. Caduceus had made two socks, both in a brioche knit that felt absolutely divine to touch and lastly there was Fjord.  
  
Fjord had made a jumper, perhaps the simplest jumper he could make Which was square and front, square at back and rectangular cut sleeves. He put it on, and smiled at the comfort provided.  
  
“Due you like them Caleb,” Jester smiled.  
  
“Um, ya I definitely do, these are amazing. Danke,” he smiled.  
  
“Yeyy,” Jester cheered. And he actually felt nice for the first time in forever. The love that was emanating through the stitches and the care as well.  
  
  
When he was in town next, finally getting enough squares that he could reasonably start stitching them together, he was wearing Fjords jumper, it was surprisingly comfy although there was little to no armpit give and he walked into a Stitch In Time to be greeted by Sophia at the desk.  
  
“I see your group of idiots finally gave you their gifts.” She smiled, the hexagon blanket now on a stool in the corner.  
  
“Where they alright,”  
  
“I mean Ninja girl doesn’t have the patience to do it but Cow man is amazing, he taught Sophia some new stitches.” Now that was a surprise, from what Caleb could tell Sophia was the local expert on it.  
  
“Ja,”  
  
“Also you have like fifteen stamps because they bought a lot of yarn.” So Caleb grabbed a few more Skiens of a warm sunny yellow and placed them on the counter.  
  
“Here you go, they’ld make a cute shawl,” she smiled. “Take a pattern from upstairs, on me.” And Caleb grabbed a pattern and relaxed as he ambled his way back to the house

**Author's Note:**

> Bishop Rutts is a real person and he is a jerk. but he has a wiki page and no one in my knit and natter like him.  
Brioche stitch is really hard to find the history of, Brioche is a french word bt Brioche knitting actually is rumoured to have come from the middle east.  
Fjords jumper is a cable but although people like to think that the certain stitch has that historylike that it really doesn't.  
ALSO NO FUCKING BETA AND I WROTE THIS ON MY PHONE SO SPEKLING MYSTAEKS GOLARE.


End file.
